Ministers have stepped in to ensure a global women’s conference can be held in the Commons after the Conservative MP Christopher Chope used parliamentary procedure to obstruct the plan, weeks after he achieved notoriety for blocking a bill to tackle upskirting.
There were shouts of “shame” after the veteran MP for Christchurch objected to the motion, read out in the Commons late on Monday, which would have allowed the chamber to be used in the autumn for the Women MPs of the World conference.
It was among a series of motions without debate read out at the end of business. which can be passed with an instant verbal vote if no objection is raised. However, hope shouted “object”, blocking the plan, when the government whip Mims Davies read out the motion.
The government responded by immediately resubmitting for Wednesday the motion on the event, which is jointly organised by its equalities office, along with the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the British Council.
Theresa May’s spokesman said ministers would ensure there would be time set aside to debate the issue, even if Chope sought to block it again: “We are supportive of the idea of holding this conference. That’s why there’s a motion in the government’s name.”
Chope, along with fellow Tory backbencher Desmond Swayne, submitted an amendment to the new motion, seeking to change the wording to prevent delegates who are not parliamentarians potentially sitting in the Commons.
Chope said: “The purpose of the amendment is to tighten up the language of the original motion.”
His original intervention angered a number of MPs, among them Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, who also holds the equalities brief. After Chope’s objection, she walked quickly to where he was sitting on the Conservative backbenches and began what looked like an angry conversation.
Chope had prompted significant criticism, including from many fellow Tory MPs, when his objection delayed the progress of a private member’s bill put forward by the Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse. The voyeurism (offences) bill would make upskirting – the taking of surreptitious, sexually intrusive images – a specific offence, punishable by up to two years in prison.
The bill followed a campaign by Gina Martin. Police have declined to prosecute a man Martin accused of taking underskirt pictures of her on his phone at a music festival in London last summer.
Chope said he was unfairly criticised, saying he supported the upskirting bill and only objected for procedural reasons. The government later announced it would take on the bill.
The new measure obstructed by Chope proposed allowing the Commons to be used by conference delegates on a non-sitting day in November.
The motion said Women MPs of the World “provides a unique opportunity to gather parliamentarians from across the world to engage in discussions about equal representation and bring about social change”.
Stephen Doughty, the Labour MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, who was in the Commons when Chope blocked the conference, said: “Just what is Christopher Chope’s reasoning for these anti-women actions?
“Just weeks ago he was trying to block the sick practice of upskirting. Last night he was trying to block women at an international conference using the Commons chamber – despite it already being used by other groups – just after voting against an equal number of women for a Commons committee. He needs to realise we live in the 21st century not the stone age.”
The shadow equalities minister, Dawn Butler, said: “In the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, the Women MPs of the World conference is an opportunity to celebrate women’s suffrage and renew our commitment to fighting for equality and social justice. If Theresa May is the feminist that she claims to be then she needs to call out this sexist behaviour in her own party.”
